Mariposa: A Love Story of Costa Rica

Five hundred years before the Spanish found the American Continent, around the end of the first millennium, Native Americans lived and prospered in Central America, including the land now known as Costa Rica. Truly a natural wonderland then and now, the natives were able to employ their farming skills and prosper from the rich soils, the forests filled with game, herbs, and spices, and the lakes and two oceans rich with fish and crustaceans. Mariposa, or butterfly, is a story about two young Native Americans, each a favored child of a chief but of different tribes. These two tribes, historically hostile to each other, lived a few days march apart in the mountains north and east of Costa Rica's central valley. The two natives meet by accident, fall in love and begin to plan a life together only to be frustrated by events beyond their control. The lovers are drawn to a mountain volcano which is thought by many to be the home of the gods, particularly Sib'ö, the Great Spirit, who they believed had created the world. Because these stories are legends they involve a good deal of myth which leaves the writer and the reader open to fashion different outcomes. The story as written incorporates the classic ending of the Legend of Zurqui, one that reflects the beauty, mystery and spirituality of Costa Rica.